


Call Me Francine

by Vinceroony



Series: The Transitions of Their Lives [1]
Category: Hetalia - Fandom
Genre: Countries Using Human Names, Gakuen Hetalia, Gen, POV First Person, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-26 06:50:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7564366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinceroony/pseuds/Vinceroony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For years they knew something was off. No matter what they wore, they never seemed to look quite right in their eyes. No matter what their friends said, no matter how many reassuring compliments they gave them, they never felt right. But one day, one small mistake makes all the difference.</p><p>(This work will be a part of a series called Transitions of Their Lives, fanfics of different characters from different stories experiencing life as a trans person, I hope you all enjoy the series!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Festival Plans

**Author's Note:**

> I'm using the Canadian school system instead of the Japanese one since I know that one better, just so you know.

       It was a chilly September morning, one where I'd need the jacket piece to my uniform for sure. I never liked wearing it, I always thought it made my shoulders look oddly big. My friend, Alfred, always told me that it made me look more muscular, and that women loved that. I always smile and nod when he says that, but on the inside it never really clicks for me. Being called muscular is supposed to mean you're attractive, right? I am supposed to feel flattered about this, but for some reason I just don't. I try not to let little things like that bother me too much, so I usually shake off that feeling and carry on.  
       I could see the school at the top of the hill, the road was lightly dusted with crispy leaves. As I made my way up the hill, stepping on as many of them as possible. The sounds the leaves make were always one of my favourite parts of autumn, especially when I was little. As I walked through the front gate, I noticed the custodians had raked the leaves in the yard into one big pile. I stopped in front of it for a moment, I had half the mind to belly flop right on top of it! I decided against it, since dry leaves are more than difficult to get out of clothing and hair.  
       When I got to my homeroom, I could see my friends Antonio and Gilbert sitting at the back of the class chatting. I was quick to sit with them and join the conversation. By the time I got there, they were cackling like a pair of hyenas! I had to get in on what was so funny.  
       "You won't believe this!" Gilbert howled with laughter, "My little bro was playing with our dogs last night, and all three of the dogs got so excited and tackled him! He was in a literal dog pile!"  
       "He even has pictures, look!" Antonio blurted between giggles as he picked up Gilbert's phone to show me.  
       Soon enough, I was joining them in their boisterous laughter! Between the adorably happy faces of the dogs, the surprised expression of Gilbert's brother, and his one arm sticking out from between the two larger dogs, it was almost too much to bear. I'd try to calm down, biting my tongue if I had to, but within seconds I'd burst out laughing once again. Soon enough the teacher came in, telling us to settle down. As much as we tried, throughout the lesson the three of us kept snickering amongst ourselves. Every so often, Gilbert would whisper some of the things his brother had said at the time, making both me and Antonio lose composure and have to muffle our giggles with our hands.  
       It wasn't until about 20 minutes before the end of class any of us had settled down. Our teacher had called for our class's attention and began to write something on the board.  
       "As most of you know, our school has a tradition of an autumn festival at the beginning of October," the teacher began, "Each homeroom class is expected to have a theme to stick to, for both costumes and activity. We should begin planning now by deciding our theme, do any of you have a suggestion?"  
       Almost immediately, Gilbert shouted from the back of the room, "Maid Cafe!" That brought on laughter through the entire class. The teacher shook his head gently, holding back a chuckle as he wrote that on the board. Several of the following suggestions were along the same lines, one person even said, "Nurse's Office!" After about five of those types of suggestions, our teacher reminded us that it had to be school appropriate. As more suggestions flooded in, I began to think about these cartoons Kiku showed me. The suggestions were starting to remind me of them. There were cute girls in pretty outfits that fought monsters and aliens. Now, what were they called?  
       "Magical Girl Anime!" I blurted to myself.  
       It took a few seconds of hearing my class giggling to realize that was out loud. I saw my teacher write it down in the list of suggestions. They thought I was suggesting Magical Girl Anime as a theme. I would have said it was a mistake, but picturing how awkward my friends would be about wearing those costumes was more than amusing to me! I myself wouldn't mind, I always admired the designs of the costumes. They were cute, frilly and bright; not to mention very stylistic. I think I would actually pull off the look well!  
       After a few more suggestions, we put it to a vote. All of us wrote our choices on a little piece of paper and put it in a hat. Personally, I voted for the Dr. Seuss suggestion. Picturing my class trying to speak in funny poetry for a day was hilarious! After that, our teacher began counting them out as we packed up our things. About two minutes before the bell rang, the teacher got up and circled the winner. I guess other people saw the same amount of humor in my "suggestion" as well.


	2. A Garden Lunch

       Finally, lunch hour arrived. I made myself something great this morning; a poulet-crudités sandwich. Arthur would always tell me I made too much gourmet food, which I wasn't. It was just a straight up chicken salad sandwich, only on a baguette and a nicer sounding name, not at all anything as fancy as he made it out to be. I swear, I could say any meal in French and he'd think it's gourmet. I once even convinced him that a ham and butter sandwich was a delicacy!

       I made my way to the inner courtyard to enjoy my lunch. I love being surrounded by flowers and fresh scents, it was the best way to relax. I sat on the bench and pulled out my sandwich. The sun flooded the courtyard, giving it's precious light to all the plants. As the light's warmth filled me, I took my first bite. It was delicious, although I may not have used enough butter. Either way, this was a peaceful lunch so far. There were even a couple birds whom came down to join me, or at least to eat the crumbs that fell from my lunch. I broke off a piece of my bread and tossed it to them. Excitedly, the birds flew over and began to nibble on it. Their happy chirps made me smile, even giggle a bit.

       The door creaked open, startling the birds. I turned towards the door to see little Feliciano wearing a pair of gardening gloves and carrying a watering can. He must have been in the gardening club, among the several other clubs he was a member of. I smiled and waved at him, then he waved back happily.

       "Ciao, Francis!" he sang as he began to water the plants, "It's a beautiful day, huh?"

       "Oui, of course," I chuckled and sat my lunch down next to me, "I always wondering who did the gardening in here!"

       He giggled lightly as he continued to water the plants. I decided to finish my sandwich as he worked. I listened to Feliciano whistle as he did his gardening. He had a great sense of rhythm, and even whistling along to a song that sounded familiar. Although, I couldn't quite make out what the song was. I admired the flowers after I was finished. there were many different types in this garden, many different colours as well.

       "How do you keep these flowers blooming in such cold weather, Feliciano?" I asked him.

       "I don't really know," he replied, scratching his head, "Maybe the inner courtyard is just warmer because there's less wind!"

       I nodded then continued to look around. I saw one bush that had gorgeous blossoms! They were a dusty pink, but large and full. Soon frost would come, and the flowers would be gone. I could bring one home to press it in a book and preserve it, but I'd likely need permission to do so.

       "Feliciano?" I turned to him again, "Is it alright if I pick one?"

       "I don't see why not!" he smiled, "By the end of next month they might start dying, so go ahead!"

       I thanked him and gently plucked one from the bush. The stem on it was short, but just long enough to fit behind my ear. I pulled back my hair to set the flower in it. The petals tickled my face gently, and a walked over to a window to see how it looked. In my reflection, I looked very cute with the flower sitting in my hair! I wished I could wear it there forever.

       "Aw, Francis!" Feliciano exclaimed from behind me, "You look so pretty!"

       I was startled at first, but turned around to see him. His smile was beaming, and very genuine. I've been called handsome and sexy many times, but this is the first time anyone every genuinely called me pretty. It felt so much more flattering. I smiled back at him, very proudly.

       "Merci, Feliciano," I sighed happily.


	3. After School Shopping

       The halls flooded with students soon after the final bell rang. I made my way across the school to get to my locker. My friends, Gilbert and Antonio, saw me from down the hall and ran over to me with grins on their faces. I could see it in their eyes that they had something fun planned, and I wanted in. They spoke over each other several times before one of them paused long enough for me to understand what the other was saying.

       "Hey, Franny!" Gilbert shouted, "Antonio knows this place downtown that's already selling Halloween costumes!"

       "We should pick out our outfits for the festival!" Antonio grinned.

       I wanted to make my costume myself, it'd be more personalized and fit me better. However, I wouldn't have time to make the costume accessories and don't even have the skill to make the shoes and socks. On that note, I happily agreed to go along. Besides, why would I miss the chance to buy clothes and watch my friends struggle to fit into store bought Magical Girl costumes?

       We made our way to a fair sized second hand shop. The displays for the Halloween costumes were already on display, and it was barely the middle of September! We headed for the aisle with the most female costumes. A lot of the costumes were rather revealing. Some with skirts too short, some that would show a lot of cleavage, and some that may as well have been lingerie. The other two seemed to be having fun picking out the most ridiculous of those costumes, like the ladybug and bacon ones. I picked out a few myself so I wouldn't be left out, but I didn't like the thought of being seen in them. Wearing them on my own would be a fun time, but with those two seeing me in them made me uncomfortable. It was like trying on sexy underwear in front of my friends.

       I went in the change room with the costume of my choice; Wonder Woman. It was the only one that looked like the original super-heroine's. Looking at the design, i was glad Alfred hadn't tagged along. I would have surely gotten a comment about the stars and colour scheme. The costume was very tight fitting. It hurt to wear, especially in the lower parts of my body. The top half of the costume was too short, and strapless. A terrible combination if you wish for your nipples to be covered. The zipper in the back I couldn't even do up all the way! Needless to say, this costume was  _extremely_ uncomfortable to wear. 

       I heard the other two holler with laughter, meaning they must've revealed how they looked in their costume choices. I sighed and held up the top of my costume before leaving my change room. I would have felt incredibly embarrassed if it weren't for seeing Gilbert in a bacon dress and Antonio in ladybug lingerie. I couldn't have even tried to hold back laughing, they had started doing poses in the costumes and making faces along with it! I decided to do a pose too, so I put one hand on my hip and flexed with my other arm, just as I'd imagine the real Wonder Woman to do. The two of them snickered, then laughed loudly. I smiled to myself for a moment, enjoying this small moment of comedy gold.

       "Franny, I think that one is a bit small on you!" Gilbert hollered before bursting into laughter again.

       I could feel my face get hot with embarrassment. I completely forgot about how short the top was, my nipples were totally exposed. Sure, I've been topless before. I've gone swimming several times without one, but that's when I wanted to be. In this moment, I didn't want them to see my chest. I wanted to show off the costume.Before a couple seconds passed, I threw my arm across my chest and backed into the change room. I could hear them giggling after that, Antonio shouting, "Francis, you're a riot!" They thought I was joking, pretending to be a celebrity who had a wardrobe malfunction. I decided to let them keep thinking that, it was too difficult to explain this embarrassment to them. They've seen my chest several times, why should this time be any different?

       They continued to try on costumes, but I just went around looking for accessories to the one I planned to make. There were a lot of frilly chokers and bracelets, as well as hair ribbons and headbands. I picked out a couple and tried them on to see how I looked. I looked surprisingly good in those, actually! However, something was missing. I stared at my reflection for a while, trying to figure out what it was. Finally it came to me; makeup. It was just what I needed to complete the look! Only I didn't own makeup, or know how to put it on. I knew I couldn't buy any with the two of them there. Not only would they laugh, but they wouldn't know what colours would match my skin tone! I would have to find someone more experienced with makeup for that.


End file.
